Social Acceptance and Alternative Treatments in the Wildland Urban Interface

Adaptation options at the WUI would balance two factors: social acceptance (y-axis), and climate change considerations (x-axis). A structured workshop process would identify key social and ecological vulnerabilities and develop four broad approaches (in addition to the “Preservation” control group) about how to best balance these two dimensions of WUI forest management. The position of each approach reflects hypothesized positions along the social and ecological dimensions. 

In order to increase social acceptance around forest management and hazardous fuels reduction treatments at the WUI), researchers are taking on a two-component project which considers sustainability, and cultural and ecological values. The research team and collaborators are investigating how forests and communities might adapt to climate change by exploring and co-developing various forest treatments and management options.  

In the first component of this project, the research team will identify social and institutional barriers to and enabling conditions for fuels treatment implementation using a qualitative social science approach. This research will further examine how community-based environmental collaboratives affect patterns of social approval, and propose means for promoting public awareness, engagement, and social acceptance . The first component will culminate in workshops with local collaborative groups to develop the silvicultural treatments to be implemented in the second phase.

The second component of this project builds on established approaches to climate change adaptation, while bringing in cross-disciplinary perspectives to silvicultural management in the WUI. Working with partners in each of their case study sites, the research team will establish the feasibility and effectiveness of a range of management options. Following implementation, treatments will be monitored to evaluate their relative benefits and tradeoffs for sustaining social acceptance, ecological services, and cultural values in the WUI. The treatments and arrangement of the treatments in the landscape will utilize established approaches for developing locally relevant climate change adaptation strategies. Additionally, the researchers will consider longer-term, cross-disciplinary perspectives to management in the WUI to ensure continued provision of goods and services. 

This project will help identify key factors affecting dynamics of social acceptance and opposition to fuels reduction treatments in the WUI (e.g. aesthetics, environmental concerns, etc.), which can inform future management and partner engagement. This research will also enhance manager confidence in developing and applying fuels management approaches that balance diverse social, economic, and ecological objectives under climate change at the WUI. 
 

To reduce the impacts of wildfire on people and communities, contemporary US Forest Service management has focused fuels reduction treatments on the wildland urban interface (WUI), where risks to lives, livelihoods, and properties are most acute. However, given proximity to homes, businesses, and recreation areas, the WUI is also where social concerns can hinder implementation of common fuel reduction techniques, e.g., for example, thinning, prescribed fire, or herbicides. The need to balance multiple objectives in the face of public scrutiny places constraints on operations in the WUI, which can delay planning, escalate costs and risks, and reduce treatment extent and longevity. These constraints point to the need for stakeholder engagement to address issues of social acceptance. At the same time, the strong intersection of social and ecological issues in the WUI can make this an ideal laboratory for advancing forest management practices that enhance social acceptance and ecological outcomes across broader landscapes. The pressures of climate change raise the stakes of management interventions.